Zootopia In The Dark
by John Reese Himself
Summary: Watch Nick and Judy tackle a serial killer with pure will and determination, but is that enough? Read to find out!


**Hi, first if all special thanks to La perlas mermaid for being a beta reader.****Now I hope you enjoy reading this new project!**

The sun has set in the city of Zootopia once more and as darkness arrived most mammals decided to enter the privacy of their homes. It is still part of the instinct for most diurnal mammals to seek refuge after daylight goes away. The wise know to stay inside as it goes dark, the foolish think that modern life and artificial light will be enough to save them from harm. For when the sun sets there is still danger creeping from the shadows and those who prey on the weak like to exploit the night, where tracks are better hidden and screams are easily covered in the loud noise of the metropolis.

"What is death?...on paper it's just a state of the body" A mysterious figure said while he ran his paw against a fox's cheek as he circled him. The helpless vulpine was tied up while sitting on a tiny kitchen chair with nothing but fear in his eyes. His captor had the fox seated beneath the kitchen light but all the others in his tiny apartment were out. The brightness of it hurt his sensitive eyes as he strained to get a better look at his captor. Deep down in his soul he was terrified of the certainty of his doom but on the outside he still believed in life… and the illusion that it could be saved.

"Do you understand what death is my foxy friend hmmm?" At the chilling sound of his captor's madness the fox flinched slightly.

"Please...just let me go sir, please I have a son and a wife, I beg you...let me go-o-o."

The figure looked at his victim and relished in it's despair while chuckling to himself.

"Freedom" He scoffed "That my friend is a fallacy, just like the family you're claiming to have. You don't have a family, not really. You, Piberius Jonathan Wilde, are nothing but a hopeless gambler that left his wife to fend for herself and provide for your kit on her own, while you grew acquainted with every casino in the city. That is not the perfect picture of a family male. But enough about dwelling in the past shall we? For now I just want to play a game."

The fox's ears perked up upon hearing that and the fur behind his back stood on end.

The assailant made a flourish with his free paw like an MC introducing a glamorous spectacle "I will ask you one simple question and you have three tries to answer correctly. If you fail, I will kill you by slicing your stomach so your insides fall to the ground and believe me good sir, that could be a very slow and painful way to die." The figure looming above the fox had a psychotic glare, realizing his fate was set the vulpine could only nod in acceptance.

"As you wish, the question is...what did I take away from you in this very moment?"

That seems too easy…* Jonathan thought, so he gave his honest answer, it was all he could do at this point "My freedom, of course."

"What freedom are you talking about? You never had freedom. You have spent most of your adult life stuck in a useless addiction, how is that freedom? I'm afraid that's the wrong answer."

The helpless fox began to stutter as raw fear invaded him once more.

"Well, you failed your first try, care to try again? I'm waiting, you know?" The psycho said feigning boredom

"My safety?" Jonathan said meekly while panicking, in a bout of irrationality he still hoped that he was right this time.

The attacker laughed once more, there was a condescending twisted grin on his muzzle "Safety? You were never safe. The crime rate in the city can't be higher right now. How in the world were you ever safe?" And there it was, that smug grin on his twisted face again "One more to go Mr. Wilde...better focus now" He teased.

Taking a deep breath Jonathan shook his head and understood what was awaiting him, once more he said what he truly felt "Hope, you took that away from me. I don't have the slightest chance to survive this, do I? What? Are you seriously going to release me after you took the time to set all this fucked up scene in my kitchen and let me see your face? You're just playing with me before you finish me off, there's nothing I could say or do that would make you drop that knife. So feel free to play this little charade on your own, I'm not following your bullshit games anymore"

The assailant stood there frozen, of every devilish scenario in his head this one never played out. His victim had been almost right that was a decent guess and he felt called out on his act. The mise en scene had been blown and his moment was stolen "Unfortunately for you...that's the wrong answer." The figure growled angry and swung the knife anyways.

Jonathan kicked his assailant as hard as he could on the stomach, his paws had been tied up but not his ankles. It toppled the intruder backwards but it was still not enough, now invaded by seething rage the deranged psycho jumped at his victim with his weapon held high.

"I only took away your illusions" The figure said while looking at the lifeless body before disappearing into the night.

\--

You know the saying, home is where your heart is. For Nick that word had just recently taken a new meaning, home used to be indistinguishable from any other building where he could rest for the night, a construction made of bricks with a roof above his head that would keep him away from the cold and bad weather. But now home was the place where he could hang out with his girlfriend in their new cozy dynamic. Home now had a kitchen where she would cook and he would do the dishes, it had a small table where they would drink coffee every morning before going to work and it had an old lumpy bed where they could snuggle whenever the night got too cold. With this new outlook in life he came to the conclusion that home was whenever Judy was.

In spite of the controversy of a pred-prey relationship, most of their family and friends were very supportive of the new couple. His mom was happy that he had finally settled down, vixen or not she didn't care with whom he mated as long as he had chosen a decent female. Judy's parents response to her dating a fox was as patronizing as it was hilarious, Bonnie just told her : "At this point in our lives hun we wouldn't care less if you chose a tasmanian devil, as long as you don't end up a spinster like your aunt Emma then we're happy for you." While Judy fumed at the words Stu gave Nick a beer and told him "If she is half of a pawful as her mother you're in for a wild ride."

The only one who had complaints was Clawhauser, he had been planning their wedding since they became partners on the force and was crushed when they told him they would just move in together instead of spending a fortune in a dated ritual, they preferred to make the down payment of a small apartment with all that cash.

Still there was one mammal that did oppose their relationship and that was Nick's father, it got so bad that they had a full blown argument a few nights ago. The older fox just couldn't accept the bunny as his lover. His father, the addict gambler who could never get his act together, the one that came offering him and his mom tons of expensive gifts whenever he had a winning streak and would show up begging for money a few days later, that guy had the nerve to get on a high horse and judge him about his girlfriend.

There were a lot of words both spoken and unspoken. Nick knew addictions were hard to beat, he knew that his dad did the best he could within his own abilities. Jonathan had explained that now that he was a respected mammal he could get any vixen he wanted and shouldn't waste his chance with a bunny. Nick had to remind himself that in spite of ditching his mom his dad never even flirted with another vixen, he would actually leave a flower by her doorstep every valentine's, so he held back a little the retorts at the older fox. There were also times where he would show up at school at odd times and take him on a spending spree on the mall, oh he was a terrible role model but so fun to hang out with, at least on the good days.

Something changed that fateful night, Nick's feelings got all blurry and weird. He was scared and furious at the same time. There was this feeling of something not being right. His heart wasn't in the right place. While it's dumb to think that cops, of all mammals, have psychic powers of any kind, every single officer will tell you that a good cop does trust his gut, and his instincts are telling him something is off.

Judy was following her mate just a bit behind, and upon noticing his posture and walking faster than usual spiked her 'Something is off' radar within her.

"Nick we should give your father a second chance." She blurted out unexpectedly.

Nick froze in place and looked at the ground with sadness in his eyes.

"I don't know why I care about his opinion, really. It's not like he has any clue on how to have a steady relationship or even get his life together" Nick's words faded away as he turned to face her.

"Nick, he is your father and it's perfectly normal that you care about his feelings, besides everyone can change. He might just need a little push, a little nice objective conversation." She reached to hold his hand as a symbol of trust and sympathy.

"How do you always do it Carrots?"

"Do what?"

Nick smiled smugly and said, " Be right."

They reached to hold paw in paw as they walked through the dark streets. They wanted to give Mr. Wilde another chance.

Turning onto his father's street Nick saw something that, while not unusual for the area, gave him chills. The flashing lights of red and blue were right outside his father's crappy rundown building. They hurried to the police line in time to see coroners wheeling a black body bag on a collapsible gurney to the ambulance. The wheels were red with blood.

Nick refused to acknowledge his own bad feelings and tried to get past the deer cops watching the police tape. He had to check on his father. Denial told him that up there his father sat watching his television or possibly giving a statement. The worst case scenario was that he was being blamed for this other mammals death.

"Hold it, Fox." A tall white tailed officer stopped him before he could go under the tape. "This is an active crime scene and you have to wa-"

"Sergeants Wilde and Hopps," Judy interrupted the buck mid specist spiel. She held her wallet with badge presented proudly. "Precinct One. Put in a call and find out if you can let us through. We just need to check on a family member."

"I'm sorry," The Officer stammered, "Wait, Wilde? I need you two to come with me. The Detective in charge will need to speak with you."

While they tried to get people to tell them what was going on the only thing they were told was to wait because 'Someone was on the way to talk to them.' That someone was their Chief. Bogo looked different than usual. His 'Don't Care' persona was not present. On the contrary he looked concerned.

"Wilde," He boomed in his deep voice, "I cannot let you in there at this time."

Nick put down his cellphone that he had been dialing frantically over and over trying to get his father to answer his phone. "It's my father, isn't it Chief? The one in the bag?"

At the sudden drop of the Chief's head in the nod that Nick was both dreading and expecting his mind went blank for a moment. He should be sad, crying even. Sure, his relationship with his dad was complicated, but he did love him right? Then why did he feel so numb?

"It's okay Nick, everything will be fine," he barely heard Judy say between sobs.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he said numbly.

He could barely feel her soft fur as she held him tight around his neck. Looking around he realized his legs had given out and there were tears on his face, so he had collapsed after all. It was nice to have her with him, he felt so cold all of a sudden. They barely acknowledged or remembered answering the questions regarding their whereabouts at the time of death. One good thing about the transit system was that the many cameras gave the best alibi for the tod that they could ask for.

Later after being driven home by Bogo the only thing Nick could do was cry himself to sleep in Judy's loving embrace while she did the same in his. The pain of the loss was still there, raw and cruel, yet somehow her company made things at least a little bit better.

Twenty four hours later Bogo was pacing in his office, the father of one of his mammals had been gruesomely murdered yet there were no significant leads so far, this didn't look good. Then he heard Clawhauser's voice over the intercom

"Sir, two agents from the FBI are asking for a meeting, it's about Wilde Senior's death"

"Send them in"

Two minutes later a striped hare and an arctic vixen entered his office "Hello Chief, I am agent Jack Savage and this is my partner Skye Frost." The hare said smoothly and with utmost respect in his eyes.

For the most part Bogo didn't get along with the FBI since the agents usually have this pretentious *We are above the food chain* attitude towards the police, but these two at least had the decency to look like they cared about this case.

"Are you here about the murder of Jonathan Wilde?" Bogo grumbled jumping straight to the point, decent agents or not the least time he spent around the FBI the better.

"I'm afraid so, he seems to be a victim of a serial killer. He has killed roughly nine mammals that we know off, in at least five different states." Agent Frost said in the professional tone she used all the time with her superiors. Both she and her partner were new on the force, having joined in right after the mammal inclusion initiative but by having crimes involving several territories she made clear that the agency had every right to manage the investigation.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but if there has been no leaks into the press about this murderer and two rookies are sent to investigate, then I assume that either you don't have this in a high priority or you have given up on finding him already"

Jack sighed, his proud shoulders slumped a little, he thought he might as well be honest "He has been active for almost ten years now and we aren't any close to catch him now as we did back then. This individual is unpredictable, he has no patterns on the victims and doesn't stick to a single location. The only thing he is consistent about is the murder weapon, every single casualty was stabbed to death."

"So what makes you think you have a higher chance to catch him than us? Unlike your agency we do care about this" Bogo said raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms above his desk

Skye groaned. She had a terrible flight, was underslept and had to work with a cottontail on a difficult case not even the veterans wanted to tackle, she had no patience left "The agency might not care enough, but we do. Look chief we don't want to take this case away from you only to shelve it below paperwork. If you really want to take this murderer off the streets I suggest you take advantage of our resources while we make use of your better knowledge on the area and mammalpower. Let's not derange our common goal into a…. Badge contest or piss each other's territory like savages while this psycho runs away to a different turf"

"That seems reasonable" Bogo said handling them the file of Jonathan's case.


End file.
